American Economic Journal:
Economic Policy
ISSN 1945-7731 (Print) | ISSN 1945-774X (Online)
Stimulating Local Public Employment: Do General Grants Work?
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
vol. 6,
no. 1, February 2014
(pp. 167–92)
Abstract
We apply the regression kink design to the Swedish grant system and estimate causal effects of intergovernmental grants on local public employment. Our robust conclusion is that grants do not stimulate local public employment. We find no statistically significant effects on total local public employment, and we can exclude even moderate effects. When disaggregating the total effect by sector, we find that personnel in the traditional welfare sectors are unaffected, a conclusion which applies to both publicly and privately employed in these sectors. The only positive and statistically significant effect of grants is that on administrative personnel.Citation
Lundqvist, Heléne, Matz Dahlberg, and Eva Mörk. 2014. "Stimulating Local Public Employment: Do General Grants Work?" American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 6 (1): 167–92. DOI: 10.1257/pol.6.1.167Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- H75 State and Local Government: Health; Education; Welfare; Public Pensions
- H77 Intergovernmental Relations; Federalism; Secession
- J45 Public Sector Labor Markets